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i've made an IV mess

ishshoes

Bluelighter
Joined
Aug 11, 2007
Messages
34
Location
Philadelphia, PA
i've been shooting dope for about 2 years now, and recently have been IV'ing a whole lot of cocaine. I've always had extremely shitty veins, seeing as i'm a female, but now it's getting really really bad. i can't shoot in my elbow area at all whatsoever and my hands are giving out, i've been using my feet resulting in deep bruises and not being able to walk for days. i've resorted to shooting in my fingers and the palm of my hand (very painful and desperate, i know) but i'm having a real hard time. i end up missing 3 out of every 4 shots because of this problem, and i'm getting abcesses everywhere (cuz of the coke prob.).
my arms and hands look absolutely disguisting and they hurt, i know that i should just quit but i'm not going too, so does anybody have any advice of where to shoot?
 
Well I'm sure this post will be followed by 10 other pointing out how bad of an idea it is and how risky it is, and to never actually do it, and they're correct, but I'm in the same position you are so I know that not shooting up simply isn't an option.
Femoral injecting is safer than the neck. Locate the femoral artery by finding the pulse on the side of your leg near the groin. Make sure you don't move and inject one fingers width closer to your midline (keep 1 finger on the pulse, another finger next to it, and start at the outside of the second finger), that's where the femoral vein will be, if it misses move maybe 1mm close in the second finger, just never inject anywhere covered by the finger thats on the pulse). Preferably you should be lying flat with your leg slightly rotated out.
Just make damn sure you don't hit that artery, with all the pressure in it you could bleed out before the ambulance can get there.
With the proper technique this site can be used for years without a problem.
A simple google search will find you details and illustrations for the method I described, and you'd be well advised to review additional materials because of the consequences (death) if your technique isn't perfect.
 
Your neck; this is extremely dangerous though. I wouldn't recommend shooting there. But i suppose thats better than muscling coke and heroin on a regular basis.. Don't hit an artery and be careful! Getting high isn't worth losing your life hun, i hope you get some help soon.
 
also, where is the best place to skin pop if i absolutely can't find a vein? where can i find more info about injecting in the femerol?>
 
Yea, This is a harm reduction forum. It may be time to layoff a big. I know how bad my arms looked during IV coke use, and the way you are describing it is horrble. I always really hated myself for doing something stupid like trying for that extra small vein on a coke binge and busting it and it never coming back.
 
i know, when i look at my arms and my hands and see how gross and disgusting they look, i really hate myself for it and what i do to myself. and the pain when i'm sitting there shoving needles into my palm i realize just how patheic i have become. not to sound coinceited or anything, but otherwise i'm a pretty girl and i'm destroying myself and it's so gross and disgusting the way my arms look. being an addict makes me hate myself and makes me depressed, but without it i hate myself even more. it's like i do heroin because it keeps me from killing myself, even though by doing it i'm killing myself. does that make sense? i hate what i've become yet i continue to destroy myself. it's like the abcesses and scars and sores and blood on the outside i allow because i feel i deserve it, that the outside reflects the inside. that i'm not this beautiful pretty girl people think i am, that i'm really ugly inside and now the outside reflects it. i'm not trying to feel sorry for myself or look for pity. i don't know why i'm even writing this.
 
ishshoes said:
i know, when i look at my arms and my hands and see how gross and disgusting they look, i really hate myself for it and what i do to myself. and the pain when i'm sitting there shoving needles into my palm i realize just how patheic i have become. not to sound coinceited or anything, but otherwise i'm a pretty girl and i'm destroying myself and it's so gross and disgusting the way my arms look. being an addict makes me hate myself and makes me depressed, but without it i hate myself even more. it's like i do heroin because it keeps me from killing myself, even though by doing it i'm killing myself. does that make sense? i hate what i've become yet i continue to destroy myself. it's like the abcesses and scars and sores and blood on the outside i allow because i feel i deserve it, that the outside reflects the inside. that i'm not this beautiful pretty girl people think i am, that i'm really ugly inside and now the outside reflects it. i'm not trying to feel sorry for myself or look for pity. i don't know why i'm even writing this.

Try browsing this forum: http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=47
 
please lay off the IV. I have been there and done that. I was a nurse and let me tell you, if you use your artery #1 you could have an immediate stroke, cause clots and have one later. You need to let your body heal. I too used my palms, feet, fingers, FACE.. crotch you name it. Once you go IV it's hard to do otherwise, but try smoking it, if you cant or don't want to quit.
 
Jesus christ don't do femoral injections, if you miss or hit an artery you'll be in a shitload of immediate trouble.

Their are lots of easy veins to hit in the leg and ankle area. Try using a smaller guage, 31, and never re-use needles. Take vitamin C supplements to rebuild and repair your veins so you may be able to re-use them again soon.
 
svacheme3 said:
Well I'm sure this post will be followed by 10 other pointing out how bad of an idea it is and how risky it is, and to never actually do it, and they're correct, but I'm in the same position you are so I know that not shooting up simply isn't an option.
Femoral injecting is safer than the neck. Locate the femoral artery by finding the pulse on the side of your leg near the groin. Make sure you don't move and inject one fingers width closer to your midline (keep 1 finger on the pulse, another finger next to it, and start at the outside of the second finger), that's where the femoral vein will be, if it misses move maybe 1mm close in the second finger, just never inject anywhere covered by the finger thats on the pulse). Preferably you should be lying flat with your leg slightly rotated out.
Just make damn sure you don't hit that artery, with all the pressure in it you could bleed out before the ambulance can get there.
With the proper technique this site can be used for years without a problem.
A simple google search will find you details and illustrations for the method I described, and you'd be well advised to review additional materials because of the consequences (death) if your technique isn't perfect.
DO NOT FOLLOW THIS ADVICE.
 
The femoral artery is the major artery running into the legs. Damaging that artery can very easily lead to death if not taken care of, and very possibly can lead to paralysis or amputation with care.

Definitely not worth the risk...
 
xxanxxtwo said:
DO NOT FOLLOW THIS ADVICE.

Do you have a problem with my summary of the standard medical procedure used for locating the femoral vein, or do you just think your idea of acceptable risk in injecting drugs is a universal truth to be followed by all mankind?

People ARE going to inject there, they might as well know the safest way to do it. I used withhold comments on it and just say to avoid it myself, but then I saw some studies revealing just how high a percentage of long term users do it. After seeing how high that number was, I decided it was in the best interest of harm reduction to start stating the proper technique.
 
There's alot safer ways to inject, and IVing into the femoral is extremely dangerous.

I mean, why don't we just tell this kid how to inject into his spine or into his neck? Medically and theoretically, it can be done safely, but it doesn't mean he should. Reason is, is that there is alot more risk and the dangers of doing it incorrectly is alot worse than just a collapsed vein or scar tissue.

People shoudl know their safest alternatives, but telling someone who's having rough tissue over their forearm veins to move up to femoral injections is foolhardy and outright misleading. In fact, people in the most dire situations shouldn't go for the femoral vei either.

I can't imagine any instance where the femoral vein is better. It's definitely on the same level as IVing into your neck or dick, and quite frankly I don't know in what order those are worse in, they are all really bad spots. Definitely the top 3 worst spots.

You can find topical veins in the thigh and leg, but don't go for the femoral vein...
 
In short, your post was fucking retarded and should be edited out it's so fucking bad and haphazard. Yes, we do have a problem with your post. It's unsafe advice. Extremely bad material.

Your intention may be good but your material wasn't. What you posted was probably the most dangerous thing the poster could do.
 
TheodoreRoosevelt said:
In short, your post was fucking retarded and should be edited out it's so fucking bad and haphazard. Yes, we do have a problem with your post. It's unsafe advice. Extremely bad material.

Your intention may be good but your material wasn't. What you posted was probably the most dangerous thing the poster could do.

When all the safer sites are exhausted the choice comes down to the femoral or something in the neck. It wasn't just the forearms that were gone, so were the hands and feet. And I made it quite clear that you could die if you don't do it right, but some people ARE GOING TO DO IT ANYWAY.

THATS FUCKING REALITY. GO READ UP ON WHAT PERCENTAGES OF IV USERS ACTUALLY USE THEM FEMORAL VEIN THEN COME BACK AND TELL ME IT'S BETTER HARM REDUCTION TO REFUSE TO EXPLAIN THE PROPER METHOD AND HAVE PEOPLE TAKING THEIR CHANCES AND PUNCTURING THE ARTERY. AND FROM THE FACT YOU THINK THE NECK, AND THE SPINE FOR FUCK SAKE, IS EQUALLY SAFE, SHOWS YOU CLEARLY HAVE NO MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE OF THIS MATTER, SO BACK OFF.
 
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Easy does it children . . . You are both right. Femoral vein injecting is very dangerous, but with the proper technique, it is safer than poking away blindly, or slamming coke and h into your muscles. It is also *somewhat* safer than injecting in the neck.

This is a harm reduction site. I need to point out that if you have a raging IV coke habit and you have run out of servicable veins, but don't want to quit, the end is near . . .

Even if you decide you want to ignore the advice of those, like me, that tell you to get help and quit before its too late, you will eventually, probably sooner rather than later, cause yourself irreparable health issues and or kill yourself. You are only postponing the inevitable.

Instead of trying to find veins that can still get that coke to your brain, try to find a friend that help you find your way back.

I've been where you are with IV coke. PM me you want to talk.

FC
 
svacheme3 said:
Do you have a problem with my summary of the standard medical procedure used for locating the femoral vein, or do you just think your idea of acceptable risk in injecting drugs is a universal truth to be followed by all mankind?

People ARE going to inject there, they might as well know the safest way to do it. I used withhold comments on it and just say to avoid it myself, but then I saw some studies revealing just how high a percentage of long term users do it. After seeing how high that number was, I decided it was in the best interest of harm reduction to start stating the proper technique.

You're right, and I apologize. It just seemed to me that once you get to that point; it's time to take a break from IV use.....but, as you say, people are going to do it anyway. I retract my initial post.
 
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